ABUJA, Nigeria – Adeniyi Akintola, the All Progressives Congress, APC, legal counsel, has implemented a total media blackout amidst the contentious Presidential Election Petitions Court proceedings.
He announced that no lawyer on their team is permitted to communicate with the press concerning the case’s ongoing developments.
Akintola made the revelation in response to a directive by the court’s presiding justice, Justice Haruna Tsammani.
Tsammani advised all petitioners to decrease the number of lawyers in their teams to facilitate public access.
“My lord, if you observe none of our lawyers do that, anything said here remains here,” Akintola declared on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, stating that any legal representative who contradicts the directive would face expulsion from the team.
Furthermore, Akintola informed the court that the APC’s legal ensemble, consisting of 38 Senior Advocates of Nigeria and numerous other lawyers, had already been streamlined.
He added that each lawyer was fully apprised of their assigned week to attend the proceedings.
This statement came after the lead counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Atiku Abubakar, Chris Uche (SAN), reassured the court that their legal team would also be pared down in compliance with Justice Tsammani’s request.
However, Uche also noted the unique learning opportunity these election petitions provide to lawyers in understanding the intricate practice procedures inherent in election petitions.
This move by the APC’s legal counsel to maintain secrecy may have profound implications on the transparency and public perception of the ongoing Presidential Election Petitions Court proceedings.
With access to direct communication from the legal teams curtailed, the public may have to rely more heavily on court transcripts and secondary sources to follow the case.
